i dig the chill camps too, just think there are way too many and instead of a chill camp why not get creative and do something more interactive??? but they are cool!

personally did my fourth project on the perimeter fence, instead of a trash fence it was adorned with 25 fish, which i might add i gifted ALL of them to george and his crew who puts up the thousands of fence posts out there, a generous but happily given school.....those guys work for weeks b4 we get there......also closer to home -- fish and chips--,fifty fish of which i got 15 friends to invent their own fish, and about 25 i made such as a battery fish of 200 dead button batteries glued on.....most of my "work" is recycled goods i might add..each fish had a small circuit board dangling ...and a few wind chimes, a chair umbrella and a drawing book.... personally made over 250 hand made gifts to give -- not barter...i like gifting, all on recycled and secondhand objects.....made another little installation at our camp kilter .....and ran a theme camp many years with a dragnet interrogation theme....
i easily spent over 100 hours b4 i stepped foot on the playa, and also sent a few packages of gifts i made to the bman office to share .......and last winter showed some of my bman videos to friends to raise $ for the homeless i distribute to out of my car in LA.......well i guess i earned my ticket, but bman isnt about justifying what u do its about getting it and living it and doing your best to make sure it is the best city on the planet...

i've always brought gifts of other kinds.....being a greeter, sharing live music at center camp stage, all kinds of little handmade shakers and my favorite, helping people transport ice everyday in my bicycle trailer...meeting people is easy.

for the first time in 2011 i will be bringing an actual art installation. i'm excited and i'm sure it will be something worth looking at. ...at least for a minute.

(I had six original pieces, 5 as donation to the Home for Wayward Art and one as a display in the Booby Bar, plus 5+boxes of Found Wayward Art. None of which got to the playa, so I'm shooting for next year.)

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

it seems the followers of this thread believe that the week is more enjoyable when you feel like u belong out there......greeters, found art, its good to hear what others do to have the gift of community bestowed upon them.....to me i dig gifting cuz its not so much the gift (ok who is kidding who - some gifts are way cool!) but the intention or recognizing something special in others and thanking them with a a creative "token".....the shock on some faces when u gift them when they least expect it is great....and i cant sit and watch a sports event at home unless i am making something......so next year get out to the fence its great out there, what a huge view......i will be coordinating some licence plates..people will represent their state however they want by attaching icons to their state licence plates......good fun and lots of people making a bit of art.....
dragnet
blinkingmancamp
phenceart

yizzah wrote:I see pictures of what was happening at 2007's BM and there were some pretty amazing pieces. Even 2008, which I was at had a handful of great pieces. Last year just a handful, but this year, almost nothing. Maybe people just don't have the money to do large pieces anymore?

Man, I busted my ass all summer long and spent all the spare money I had making an art car, a theme camp and a root beer and absinthe saloon. Didn't seem like much when I got there.

In 2005, we put a flower pot out on the bar and found it filled to overflowing with gifts. This year, people rifled through it asking if there was lube, sunscreen, lighters, etc. Great burn, but, different energy and somewhat of a greater sense of entitlement, which brings me to the question:

What did you bring to the playa for art?

"The Red Baron is smart.. He never spends the whole night dancing and drinking root beer.. "-The WWI Flying Ace

yizzah wrote: Thanks. Frankly, you have no idea what I contribute when I go. You have zero idea about what I do and have done. P

Well, this would be a great opportunity to enlighten everybody.

For example, my camp was the Green Hour and my mutant vehicle was Aemma, but the DMV wouldn't license her because she's too fuckin' dangerous. I contributed art that tried to kill a sorority girl and an Opulent Temple DJ, knocked over a row of bikes and almost a street sign, scared a hippie and caught on fire.

By "worse" do you mean shittier, or more unpredictable and dangerous?

You have no idea how many people I ran over at Burning Man.

"The Red Baron is smart.. He never spends the whole night dancing and drinking root beer.. "-The WWI Flying Ace

hmmm, well as I don't have any other years to compare it to, I was very impressed with many of the works of art and vehicles. Even some costumes. i think there was too much moop people were wearing. One hardly wants to get dressed up and be the only who took the time to actually design, and put together something breath taking if everyone else is in thrift stores rummaging for the stupidest looking thing they can find.
I was expecting more of a community of real costumers. Too many Ren Faires in my past. Not saying there weren't a lot of good ones. I took plenty pictures. Just there were more indiana jones's than anything else.

But some of those pieces were just amazing, Bliss??? Anyone who can't do better shouldn't criticize.

Can't wait to bring the MOST amazing thing next year as my gift.

And the very best gift I gave this, my virgin tour, that were VERY much appreciated,
was a simple baby wipe out on the deep playa.
The smiles they brought were genuine.
Then when I offered, do you need a bottle of water they were over joyed.
When I asked it they'd like a banana they cried.
When I said, then you'd probably like and eclair to go with it, they dropped to their knees.
i then asked if they felt good.
When the said yes I just told them i was Dr. Feelgood and bid them a good burn.
better than the art.... :wink:

punapeter wrote:And the very best gift I gave this, my virgin tour, that were VERY much appreciated, was a simple baby wipe out on the deep playa.The smiles they brought were genuine.Then when I offered, do you need a bottle of water they were over joyed.When I asked it they'd like a banana they cried.When I said, then you'd probably like and eclair to go with it, they dropped to their knees.i then asked if they felt good.'

Fuck, man, that's some great porn!

What'd they do with the banana?

"The Red Baron is smart.. He never spends the whole night dancing and drinking root beer.. "-The WWI Flying Ace

I was a virgin burner this year. I had been following the work of Marco Cochraine for some years and when it turned out he was going to make "bliss dance" [ the big metal lady ] for this year it was impossible to delay coming any longer. I loved the art , especially bliss dance of course , but there were so many mind blowing pieces out there. Perhaps you get used to it if you have been many times before, but as a virgin it was all quite stunning. I am so impressed with the work of all the artists. The cost in time and money would be immense. I would love to bring a sculpture to the playa but as i live in Australia the logistics are difficult and very expensive. I guess i will need to think small. At any rate , thank you to all the artists who made this event what it is. It was like a 100cc adrenaline straight to the heart.